https://www.pcmag.com/news/windows-10-the-last-version-of-windows
Raising this dead article as Microsoft now delivers extended support pricing details for those who choose not to migrate to the newer version of Windows. The one they were told they'd not ever have to migrate to
Well I suppose they were right. Windows 10 was the last version of Windows for me. I'm okay with not using what little only works on windows. Unless you need something more niche/specialised, windows isn't worth the pain.
I wish I felt this way. I installed SuSE Tumbleweed a while ago, and while I overall liked it, it was so finicky. My bluetooth ceased working after updating a bunch of stuff and I never got it working again. I feel like things are very rarely plug and play with Linux, something Windows has gotten pretty good at since, well at least XP.
Back when I used Linux as my daily driver, around 2007-2011 I was okay with that. Sure I had issues every so often, but I didn't mind spending time to solve them. Nowadays when I spend 8 hours in front of the computer for work, if I want to spend more time in front of the computer it's generally because I either want to enjoy a game, or experiment with music, what have you, and having things spontaneously crap out on me would drive me nuts.
Maybe SuSE Tumbleweed wasn't the right choice. My thinking there was; a rolling distro will always be up-to-date, no more big OS upgrades ever, I'll just set things up the way I like it and that's that.
That's really the biggest problem I think Linux has, unfortunately it's also one of Linux's best features - it's not a uniform experience. Yours won't be the same as mine, etc.
Some things that should be simple aren't, and sometimes getting things going can be frustrating, and you will without question at some point have to troubleshoot and fix something.
I'm fortunate that I have a lot of background and experience in the industry, and I can understand people don't want to go to that trouble, just like people don't want to learn to cook.
Most things in Linux I find these days do plug and play to some degree, but there is absolutely missing effort and/or openness from the hardware vendors. Like not being able to configure macro keys/extra mouse buttons without a windows vm.
Having said that, I found the way windows was going, adding crap into the os that I don't want, and constantly changing where settings are etc. Changing my defaults, and so on. There's just too much I don't like about the way it's managed. Also, winsecure.
I’m fortunate that I have a lot of background and experience in the industry, and I can understand people don’t want to go to that trouble, just like people don’t want to learn to cook.
I'm kind of in that boat, it's not that I can't solve the issues; I've used Linux for years. I work as a software developer, my entire day is about solving problems, sometimes it's IT related, CI, dependency updates, build tools that cease working properly because of it, integration scripts, migrations, etc. and sometimes it's more of a workflow thing; how do I best implement a solution that gets a user from A to B in the smoothest way possible?
In that way I'm like a professional cook that spent all day cooking for others, so when they get home they just don't have the energy to put all that effort into themselves.
Having said that, I found the way windows was going, adding crap into the os that I don’t want, and constantly changing where settings are etc. Changing my defaults, and so on. There’s just too much I don’t like about the way it’s managed. Also, winsecure.
I can get behind this 100%, which is doubly funny because I make my money as a .NET developer. I work with various Microsoft platforms on a daily basis. As a developer the experience is honestly really comfy, they've done a good job there. Teams can fucking go die though. What a nightmare product.
In that way I'm like a professional cook that spent all day cooking for others, so when they get home they just don't have the energy to put all that effort into themselves.
Funny that, I'm a Linux admin. I actually run my own servers for everything. I'm a firm believer in whoever owns the hardware owns the data. It's just like work but with tools that I like. I like knowing where it is, and it's not going to end the world if it's offline for a time.
I did windows admin for about 5 years though up to 2008r2, and I have to say I do like AD and ntfs ACLs (except when they break). Those times do contribute to my aversion.
I too know a thing or two about developing, back in the day I did C, pascal, C++. I remember how much easier delphi was than mfc. I got out of developing when they started dumbing down the tools further (why didn't you die, java.. C#, etc.) Electron can't die in a dumpster fire fast enough.
Don't start me on teams. I'd say the same for o365 though. Hard to believe these products make me want work to go back to lotus notes, domino, sametime...
If you install Linux on any sort of proprietaryish system. Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc. You need to expect to have some issues. And it's not linux's fault.
If you want to have a smooth "just works" experience with Linux. Either buy a system made to run it. System 76, tuxedo etc. Or build it yourself if you have the know how.
You wouldn't try to install Mac OS on a non Mac and expect it to work flawlessly. We shouldn't expect that of Linux either. It often still does. But that's besides the point.
My favorite laptop to use right now A 2017 HP elitebook with an AMD chipset. The Bluetooth is indeed a bit of a problem unfortunately. But if I took the time to source a decent Intel m.2 upgrade board. It would be flawless apart from the fingerprint sensor which will never work. But again, that's not linux's fault.
Make the investment into a compatible system and you won't regret it.
I don't get why you're being downvoted because these are in general good tips.
I assembled my PC myself, off the shelf parts of course (I don't really do electronics) but it's not a locked down SOC or anything like that. My first foray into Linux with it was a bit too early because the kernel on the OS I tried hadn't been updated to support my CPU. That was a bit of a headscratcher because the problems manifested in an interesting way.
It doesn't change the fact that setting things up with Linux is a lot of extra manual work, which at some point the benefits of doing it will outweigh the inconvenience of it, but I've not reached that point yet.
Probably a tonal issue on my part. Not intentional. But it's happened before. Combined with the fact that despite my advice being sound. It's far from an ideal solution for a number of people. Not everyone can buy online, and many don't have the interest or aptitude to procure and assemble themselves. And it sucks that there isn't a better option. Brick and mortars etc providing an option.
I have run Linux on systems from every major SI. Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer, IBM etc. Tower wise these days it's fairly foolproof outside network or graphics interfaces. Realtek is a mess. And Nvidia IS getting better, but still shits the bed badly when I try to use it with Wayland and the software I want to use. Which is getting to be issue enough that I'm de-nvidifying where possible till Nvidia gets it together.
Laptops are a special hell though. Malfunctioning/non functioning screen controls, IO, and peripherals that can't be replaced etc. The next laptop I buy will be one built with Linux compatibility in mind. I'm getting to the point myself that while I can chase down and fix issues. I would rather it just fully worked. Replacing the m.2 network interfaces on systems that allow it is great and all. But at my age my eyesight is getting to where attaching the antenna leads is very challenging.
Okay, let's test this theory. Recommend me a reasonable mouse and keyboard, that have working Linux support, and I can buy them at a reasonable store. Do the same with a webcam.
Haha, you remind me of a brief period in 2014-ish when I tried to use Linux on an AMD laptop. It was a complete nightmare, nothing even remotely similar to my current issues with SuSE Tumbleweed. Fans going haywire, backlight issues, overheating. Gosh.
I've heard good things about the System76 laptops, it's definitely enticing. Though I'm also interested in those modular Framework laptops, but they're not available in my country.
I like the concept of framework as well. Though my understanding is they are generally compatible with Linux. But that isn't a design goal with them. Still supposed to be a pleasant experience though. System 76 at least has Linux as a first class citizen. Even updating the BIOS from inside Linux. But either way it will be a much better experience than buying something like a Dell laptop or similar.
Yeah, same for me. I'm using the time between now and paying for updates to do research on what distro I want to try to learn... I've used Ubuntu a long time ago, but I'm not sure that's exactly what I want.
I'll probably get down voted to oblivion, but I remember EVERYONE had the same "I'll never move" rhetoric with Windows 7, and before that Windows XP. Ya'll eventually move.
I've moved 3 of my 6 windows boxes from 10 to 11 and it's not that much different. I just debloat the stuff I don't want and move on. Even that isn't different, ya'll remember nlite? We've been ripping crap we didn't want out of the OS for as long as I can remember.
Hell, I even remeber getting doublespace.exe off my old dos 5 disks so I could use it on my dos 6 and Windows 3.1.1 install. People who use Windows are just more used to tearing down what they don't want rather than building up what they do (*nix). Is it harder these days...marginally...is there more to remove...yup. But it's still the same crap we've always done.
The difference this time is that my computer literally can't run Win 11. I'm not throwing away a perfectly good PC just because of Win 11's hardware requirements.
Especially not for such enragingly artificial hardware requirements. Any computer able to run 64-Bit Win XP would probably run Windows 11 just fine if Microsoft hadn't decided to build instructions that only work on recent CPUs into the kernel specifically to make it not run on older hardware.
Assuming Microsoft is acting nefarious here, what would there motivation be to lock out older hardware?
Or in future be able to block programs they don't like or that are modified in a way they don't like. Or be like android and lock it down so you can't be admin without losing ability to use applications
They could probably reduce the support needed for drivers that support said older hardware. I would imagine some of those drivers are probably hard to maintain. That’s my guess anyway.
If you still need/want to run Windows 11, you can download the ISO from Microsoft, and burn it to an USB Stick using Rufus.
Rufus lets you disable all those requirements.
But I wouldn't count on it working forever. Any Update could break your OS, cause Microsoft expects you to install it on conforming hardware.
What breaks Arch is people thinking pacman -Syu is enough to keep it running.
So I WAS on 11 until all of the sudden my computer refused to boot with the special hardware thing enabled. Had to downgrade to Windows 10 and the mobo manufacturer's response was 'try replacing every other part in your PC'...sorry I don't have the money to have spare parts of everything just lying around. 10 works perfectly fine, and it'll give me an excuse to upgrade my mobo in Oct 2025. :-)
Maybe to 12, a lot of people stuck with 7 until 10, because 8 sucked. A lot of people stuck with XP because Vista sucked. A lot of people are sticking with 10 because 11 sucks. In history, Microsoft has had a usable OS every other.
If 12 is shit, perhaps Linux will finally get its day.
Windows 11 is essentially just 10 with a theme over it. 90% of the hate for Windows 11 also applies to 10. The only real new thing is the hardware requirements.
Windows 10 had ads from the start. That was the biggest complaint about it on release, and the fact that people hate 11 and are ok with 10 on that baffles me.
And somewhat coincidentally the bing shit was added to 10 before 11 got it.
Windows 11 is so much worse. Windows has always been problematic but now Microsoft is forcing AI, Edge, One drive and teams. You can't use up to date Windows without the BS. Windows 10 is now just as bad as Windows 11
That's what happens when one company has pretty much exclusive control over most consumer machines.
No, not really. Even if it was it is still annoying to do and is confusing for most people.
Not really. W11 doesn't pass my company privacy and security certification (we deal with a lot of sensitive data). A lot of stuff, specially the intrusive AI hooks into the filesystem cannot be removed. I mean, you can remove them to the point that a user won't notice or think that the AI was there. But there's a bunch of under the hood shit that still makes it a liability. Even just disabling the Bing AI BS on Edge doesn't actually remove it, it just makes it invisible to the user. Just like OneDrive and Teams cannot be actually removed, they just exist and act out of the user eye, but we actually pay to use those so the evaluation is different. But the AI crap is not transparent enough to even be audited by an independent third party. We are already a bit weirded out by Teams auto transcript that just listens to all chats and all meeting at all times. But that shit is so bad that it never gets a single word correct. We received proof that the transcript runs locally and never leaves our sharepoint server, so we tolerate it. MS is just crap all around when you actually need to be secure or private.
I wish. Most stuff I used to do now has extra clicks required, the right click 7z panel, the process monitor kill process button (now hidden on a submenu on a right-click), and I can't put the taskbar vertically!!! I use two monitors, I'm used to having it on the right monitor, on the left vertically. The reasoning was that not many people move their taskbar and while that might be true, after some regex modifications, the only thing that's completely broken if you put the taskbar vertical was the news button pop-up (it didn't align correctly), which is basically ads, and I'm completely against them gutting features because their ads need extra work (not that much work, just work).
Besides that, having a fat suggested apps bar on the windows menu that takes 30% of the space is a thing again, which is ad space too. Great
Anyway, KDE is cool. Thanks Microsoft, I would have persevered if it wasn't for the vertical taskbar, now I'm happier.
Classic right click menu is a regkey away.
Classic control panel is still there too.
I have 4 monitors, task bar on all of them, not sure why yours doesn't. Apps even go to the appropriate task bar per monitor when minimized.
Suggested apps size can be minimized.
They only show you "ad" apps on first boot, otherwise gone once you remove them.
Me thinks you just like to complain lol
I really don't think it's reasonable to be needing to mess with the registry to get basic behaviour that you want. It's just the same shit that people accuse Linux of needing to use the terminal all the time except in windows flavour.
I don't disagree and I'm glad you aren't making the "it would be easier in Linux" argument.
What I do think the changes are there to encourage access to BASIC functionality for the majority of users, but it does come across as dumbing down to folks that are power users. I really do think this is a case of "what would 90% of the population use" kinda thing.
Also the case of how its been in Windows for decades, if it was truly better they would have changed it ages ago, but it isnt better, its just UI designers justifying their paychecks.
For your first two points, I'm kinda against having to fight against the system, at that point I prefer to work alongside the system with Linux, but W/E. In any case, I would have fixed these if the taskbar wasn't impossible. No I'm not going to install a 3rd party program to fix the taskbar.
About the 4 monitors, it's cool that you like having 4 taskbars, wasting tons of space. I don't. I'm not asking that, I'm asking having a single taskbar vertically. It's one of the big complaints I've read about win11, not being able to have vertical taskbars on the side of the monitor.
I've not seen a way to remove the "recommended" space in the start menu, and I'm sorry but any recommendation I didn't agree with is an ad. You might think otherwise, and that's cool, but I don't like ads in products I pay.
That last sentence wasn't very nice, especially considering that you didn't understand one of the complaints (the taskbar thing).
Anyway, happy that you are enjoying win11 and I wish I was, but yeah, I don't fancy paying for less features.
Recommended space isn't for ads, it's for newly installed programs. It might show some icons there like Spotify when the OS is installed, but once you remove them they are gone. New "ads" don't show up later.
If you want less space dedicated to recently installed (recommendations) change the start menu density to "More Pins"
It's just a different way of doing / labeling. Old start menu had "recently installed" this is the same as "recommend"
Edit: I'll make an admission here, it looks like I had the "Show recommendations for tips, shortcuts, new apps, and more" turned off. But as a point of fact, I did that inadvertently as part of my normal debloat process.
Edit 2: Seems there is a local / group policy setting to remove the recommendation section completely if that's your jam. I personally prefer to see my new apps there for a bit.
Edit 3: I feel like your comment about working against the system is even more comical considers you are talking about Linux. Ever tried to get nvidia drivers working on Linux? Ever tried updating once they were working? Linux is litterally the poster child of working against the system. If you don't like how it's setup out of the box, sure it's changeable, but how long did you work on the changes to get it flawless. I would wager there is jank you have just decided to put up with because after a week you said "good enough". There is a reason 90% of my Linux systems don't even run a GUI.
You say even more, as if it was comical to begin with. But yeah, it's annoying sometimes but I'm not dropping 1k for a new GPU anytime soon, I'll have to suffice with the one I have. Yeah I do update them weekly almost, every time I do yay there's a new driver version, it updates and it works. No major issues besides the explicit sync but that's being fixed soon and I installed a patch so yeah.
For sure I spent more time customising it than I did in windows, but that's kind of the point isn't it? Linux is about that, windows is not supposed to be. I don't mind spending time customising and tinkering if I know that a megacorp isn't taking my data. That was the trade-off, data and money for convenience. Now that convenience has been reduced and the data has increased, it's not worth it for me anymore.
So yeah, with windows you need to work against the system, disabling stuff that they intend to ship that is harmful, while on Linux you work with the system, tinkering and customising stuff the way you like it, with the defaults being a community thing, not a megacorp thing.
There's no reason 7zip can't be in the default right click menu other than laziness. Devs have had the option to add stuff to that menu since the start, but it wasn't until 2023 that they really started actually supporting it. Nanazip is 7zip with a Windows 11 UI and it supports the menu. 
Cool, as stated though, I would have persevered if it wasn’t for the vertical taskbar being removed. Oh you can't have the main taskbar only be shown in the secondary monitor either. Look, I get that they are implementing features and apps are adapting and all that, but these features missing make it feel like a regression, alongside weird interactions with sound volumes I'm having in my work laptop where even if I change the volume, it gets lowered again and I have disabled all the features that let apps take control, dunno.
I'm a developer, I get that beginnings are kinda rocky, but that's what I expect from a FOSS product, not a paid one. Is it weird that I feel that it's unreasonable to get out of beta with all these kind of issues? To suggest very aggressively to upgrade? Specially when the upgrade was free for all the win10 users? It's not like they had a big monetary incentive to push the release forward.
Win10 might have had tons of security holes and the cortana stuff, but it was really configurable, you could format the start menu as the win8 panel, as the simple win7 panel, or as the hybrid win10 panel natively, you could move the taskbar to wherever you wanted, across multiple screens, configure it as you liked natively. Now you need to install 3rd party stuff to emulate half baked imitations of those features, and if security holes appear in those products microsoft won't fix them. Win 11 feels way too restrictive, in a way that I feel like it takes a lot of decisions not for me, but from me, and I really dislike that.
Yeah, I know that the win10 panels can be re-enabled through the registry, but until how long will they be patched? They are clearly deprecated.
Anyway, sorry for the rambling, I'm happy that you like the product.
W11 is also just slower than W10 for no reason. The file manager especially is quite slow.
Haven't kept up with it, but that certainly wasn't the case on release and I still don't think it's as functional as 10. I have only used it on a family laptop and had trouble simply connecting a printer, it drives you even further away from useful settings than 10 does.
Theme is subjective of course, but I much prefer 10 myself.
I remember EVERYONE had the same “I’ll never move” rhetoric with Windows 7
I did eventually move... to Linux. Windows 7 was the last version of Windows I've had installed on any machine I own.
Honestly 11 was finally the push I needed to try Linux as my main driver. Gaming finally got to the point where I could switch. The only thing they made in 11 that was beat was AutoHDR. Everything else was annoyance to me.
Dude stop reminding me how old I am. I just discovered arthritis bones that my favorite grandma decided to give me this morning.
They removed the Quick Launch toolbar in Win11 - main reason I didn't even consider moving.
I have just recently discovered a way to bring it back, but it's not exactly optimal.
"Features" lmfao!
In all seriousness, remove actual beneficial features? No. Remove the shit that people have been complaining about for ages? Yes, but I guess we are all in on losing people eventually.
I completely forgot about doublespace and all the XX-DOS stuff was when I was a teen. Had fun messing around with DR-DOS and wish I would have found Linux back then.
I never upgraded from Win 7. I used in untill Steam stopped its support and now my gaming rig runs on Linux.
Well, if you're sticking with Windows, you really have no choice. The sun is rapidly setting on using Windows 7 as a "daily driver" - a lot of new software doesn't support it and the older versions that work on Windows 7 are getting less and less viable. Windows 8 is in the same boat as Windows 7. Windows 10 goes out of support next year, but you've probably got to 2028 or maybe 2029 before you really have to move.
I ended up riding Windows 7 pretty much to the bitter end. Steam dropping Windows 7 support last December was it for the last Windows box. Everything now is running Linux.
I'll be the guy in this thread, I switched to mint for everything except CS2 (Wtf valve fix your native client) and will not be looking back.
I had to use windows yesterday. Public computer at a print shop.
Everything was shades of white, the scroll bar was barely visible, when I enlarged a window the ux elements scaled up, and there was already tons of dead ui space, so I assumed there weren't any more to show. Also, every program, even though they were all Microsoft, gave a different screen when I hit control p.
I couldn't figure out how to adjust paper size. Ive been using computers since 199(2/3), when I could barely talk. Ive used legacy systems older than me-for industrial shit, for novelty. I grew up mostly a MS-DOS then windows girl. I've installed arch. Ive run arch successfully as a daily driver, then moved to qubes for a few years. I have systems so hacked together, I need to lick a bit of wire I connected poorly to trigger a thing (3v, its fine) I currently have a dead bug soldered project sitting half finished next to me (the hardware is done, works, I'm just bad at code), in a room that could mostly pass for the set of a live action 'serial experiment lain' remake.
And I couldn't adjust print settings on modern windows. Because it's just that garbage. Two days ago I wasnt a fanatical Linux partisan. I think I am now.
I replied to your other post and this was below so don't feel compelled to type it again up there.
Well if your solution to craptacular useless ux is 'get gud', which was sort of implied, then you sound like a certain kind of arch user. Just install that on your primary machine; I'm sure it'll be fine.
You have to understand technology is constantly evolving, which requires upgrades to allow utilization those technologies.
So they probably needed the upgrade for a new EULA, to allow for improved shenanigans built right into Windows, that will be a huge benefit to Microsoft, and would allow closer more invasive monitoring of your system, but wouldn't be legal without the new EULA.
Very legal and very cool. 🤑
Yes but then vanguard and blackrock (they control about 15% of m$ shares) saw that their investment in AMD (again, with 15% they're the biggest institutional shareholders) and their investment in Intel (more billions in shares) needed a way to increase CPU sales, so they told Microsoft to add artificial CPU requirements in order to send to the dumpster any computer produced before 2018
send to the dumpster any computer produced before 2018
You mean send into the arms of a frugal Linux enthusiast ;)
And the thing of it is, millions of non-tech savvy people would not mind about having to move to Windows 11 and would do so in due course if Microsoft didn't deliberately cripple it so it won't run on a wide swath of not-too-old hardware.
They make your machine slow to you need to replace it. People now see computers and phones as almost disposable
On the one hand I understand that it is expensive to keep providing support. However, that should not be an excuse. If the company does not want to support it they should have community support. We need more homegrown support and operating systems
Everyone that was paying attention to the Microsoft Windows support lifecycle web page back then knew that statement was horse shit.
Well, on one hand you had one line in a table in a formal web page.
On the other, you had that very awkward phrasing (if he merely meant 'latest'):
because Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, we’re all still working on Windows 10,
But maybe that was a misunderstanding and he did mean 'latest', but in the flurry of internet coverage, Microsoft never issued a statement highlighting the misunderstanding. Instead they let that run rampant.
In fact, it was very consistent with a lot that happened with Windows 10:
So while certainly that one lifecycle page did have it stated, I have to wonder why Microsoft was mum on the subject even as their community was 'getting it wrong'. I wouldn't be surprised if the reality is that they were seriously considering it. That guy might have even meant 'last' because he thought the 'eternal update' camp were going to win out.
It's funny how media widely misreported this, but what's not funny is that people believe that to this day. Even in this thread people think Microsoft said that.
The quote is in the article:
Right now we're releasing Windows 10, and because Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, we're all still working on Windows 10,
They obviously meant Windows 10 is the latest version of Windows, but I guess misconstruing the quote got the clicks and then everyone went along. There was never any announcement from Microsoft, all of the "Windows 10 is the final version of Windows" thing is based on misconstruing the quote. If a reporter really believed this interpretation to be the case, it would be easy to just ask Microsoft, but they didn't. Or did, got the "lol no of course it's not last" answer and ignored it because that would make their clickbait article go away.
I don’t think that’s a fair interpretation, I think Microsoft absolutely intended what they said here, that Windows 10 was the last version of Windows. Hence the shift in development strategy. Annual breaking updates rather than new full releases, the new month-year versioning cycle, free for anyone with a valid Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 license.
I think the goal was to eventually drop the “10” and for it to just be Windows as a service, where major versions don’t really matter and the UX slowly evolves over time rather than in one big change.
Then, something happened. Obviously this is purely speculative, but I suspect either the executive championing this strategy left, or they saw it cutting into their profits more than they anticipated, or enterprises complained about frequent breaking updates, who knows. Then Windows 11 appeared out of nowhere. The signalling from MS for enterprise was clear. Stop monolithic imaging and site-wide rollouts, instead test applications with a pilot group and then push the annual releases wide if no issues are found.
I definitely think something changed. While you’re right that this is the only quote supporting it directly, when asked in follow-ups Microsoft went out of its way to NOT deny the statement or confirm it. If the plan was the status quo, they would have just said “we have not changed our release model at this time” but they didn’t. They knew full well that based on how widely reported that quote was, people would infer that it was the strategy. If they felt so strongly that it was just a simple misspeaking, they would have said so.
Windows 11 is technically still Windows 10, if you go by the actual version reported by the systeminfo command. For example, my fully updated Windows 11 Pro VM reports itself as OS Version: 10.0.22631, so there might still be something to the idea that "Windows 10 is the last version" but the marketing and branding teams didn't stay on the same message.
That version number is pretty meaningless though. If you look at version numbers, vista, 7 and 8 were all 6.x. I'm pretty sure they do numbering based on some underlying architecture feature, and when it changes enough they change the major version number.
I'll be staying on 10 for as long as possible, so that by the time I have to upgrade people will have found ways to mod most of the bullshit out of the newer version.
which currently only has about one year of support left, officially
Well, no, "Version 23H2" only has one year of support. The 24H2 update will likely happen and likely have support until 2026. They do not list a retirement date for "Windows 11", only for the updates.
You are right that for 10, the formal documentation listed an EOL. I can also believe that the "last version" was started by a misunderstanding. However, that "Windows 10 is the last version" spread hard and Microsoft made no effort to correct that at all. If there's one thing internet sites love more than over-speculating about a potential mis-speak, it's showing their fellow internet sites to be morons by posting Microsoft statements clarifying things. So Microsoft had to have noticed and still opted not to interject. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some "we are going to make Windows 10 a rolling release" sentiment bouncing around at Microsoft. It would be consistent with how they declared that new features and deprecations would come twice a year.
The telemetry of Windows 10 back in 2015 ain't got jack shit on the adware craziness they got years later
8.1 is a faster version of 7 that also has some compatibility with apps that are said to require 10. Just disable those metro things and use your favorite app for start menu.
I'm glad I have finally seen someone else who appreciates windows 8 (or at least is willing to admit it). People just lose their shit when there are any changes to the start menu, but the best start menu is to not have one at all.
Windows 8 has way better hotkeys (limit seaeching to files, programs, or applications) compared to the unified search in newer versions.
Actually I'm a fan of having a start menu but I also used some other apps and launchers, even a dock (RocketDock is one of the most useful apps for me and it's a shame it never received the x64 version).
Used 8.1 for years and didn't need to reinstall it even once. I appreciate it for its technical side. From what I understand it was developed together with the mobile version so it's somewhat lighter on resources. It also lacks aero which adds to that.
Longhorn (pre-reset) was my last version of windows back in 2004. after that mess, i refused to ever go back.
I still remember my first windows 7 install. I remember my wallpaper. It was winter. I rocked a digital blasphemy snowman wallpaper. Shortly after, doom 3 was released. The amount of counter strike I played on there was problematic. I remember installing like a game desktop where it was an fps and I could arrange things and walk to different rooms of a house which were just folders of shortcuts and shit. Lol. It was neat for a bit.
So nostalgic now.
I consider Windows 7 the last good version, but I still consider Windows 2000 to be when Microsoft was at the top of their game.
Still proprietary spyware, it looks awful and it is bloated.
Let's agree to disagree
The name came from the bar in Whistler, BC... might give a little more insight into the development team...
i know.
fyi, WindowsXP was codenamed "Whistler". Windows 7 was originally codenamed "Blackcomb", but that codename was later dropped. Windows Home Server 2011 was codenamed "Vail".
the MS team has a history of using ski resorts and related names as codenames for windows betas.
Oh yes, I'm well aware but couldn't remember what names connected to the proper OS. I've always had the joking idea in my head that the names came from a project manager who didn't actually do anything except daydream about where their next paid vacation was booked lol
Whistler Blackcomb was the name of a resort that the Windows design team used to on retreat to. They would also go elsewhere, as I’m sure you can guess…
Windows 11 was codenamed “Sun Valley”
The only reason I still have Windows are a few games that don't work properly on Linux (via Steam Proton) yet.
I will keep Windows 10 until Steam no longer supports it or all my games run well on Linux (I check for that occasionally). IDGAF about no longer getting security updates as I have moved everything except for those few games to Linux years ago.
I multibox a certain game and that is something proton simply can't handle. It's only designed with a single game in mind so each instance runs it's own layer which quickly eats up resources that are never freed up.
if I'm ever forced to upgrade my base system I guess the first thing I'll do is try my game in a windows VM
My PC is 10, my laptop for work is now 11. It's the same. I guess I'm just not a power user but it operates exactly the same for me. I wouldn't update from 10, but I wouldn't not buy 11.
I honestly don't care between 11 and 10, since switching there hasn't been an impactful difference for me.
I will however revel in the memery that Microsoft has brought upon itself.
I had to upgrade to Win 11 today ;(
Hyper-V configuration version 9.3 and above is not available on Win 10.
And yes I know about Linux, my laptop runs it. But I'm not in the mood of migrating a fuck ton of stuff to another OS. I have around 20 TB of storage on my PC and redoing everything should be a pain.
I also don't want to forget my Windows knowledge overtime.
I will absolutely disable as much bullshit as possible though. I didn't even have web search in the search bar in win 10 (because it broke the search bar, but still).
Had to use win11 yesterday.
It was completely unusable fucking trash and even the ux was terrible.
If it helps, my media drives transferred straight over to Linux when I cleaned by last windows device.
Yeah, I actually liked the start menu in Win 10. Very customizable and usable if you actually spend some time to set it up.
Now the start menu is barebone bullshit.
Even the visuals; no contrast, no style, no visual economy, no virtue of any kind.
Its honestly not. I would rather use gnome than win11.
I didn't even like old gnome.
I really dislike gnome (obviously) so pretty much anything is better. Win 11 isn't that bad. It's in some ways worse than Win 10 but it's not close to Gnome bad IMO of course.
I run KDE on my laptop (and steam deck) and it's very nice.
It was completely unusable fucking trash and even the ux was terrible.
How do you say this with a straight face. I know, just know, you want to push Linux, it's a must here on Lemmy, but to say it's unusable trash does more to denigrate my opinion of your opinion than my opinion of the OS. It functions substantially similar to W10.
I want to truly know what you mean. What did you try to do but were 100% prohibited doing due to W11?
But the ux was so bad, I described many of the ways it was bad.
If your solution is 'get gud', might I recommend you install arch?
It isn't get good. I'm sure you're more than capable of figuring it out. It just feels like, a long with so many other similar posts, shit in windows because windows bad. And I'm as nostalgic for XP and 98 as many people on here are, in the same way I'm nostalgic for many other things that happened during my formative years, but to go to say windows is unusable is just completely counter to my person experience, which is that windows has removed some power user features over the past 20 years, but remains largely the same. I also don't use it the way I used to.
Setting up a Linux box for me would just be a hobbyist exercise, and so I may, I will, just haven't gotten around to it yet.
This isnt power user shit. Its GUI printing a document.
The ux was actively terrible. Yeah I was sad when I had to uninstall 7; nothing worked with it anymore. But I went into 11 and it was just completely terrible. Youre a boiled frog, friend.
I cannot think of a ux mistake they didn't make. And there's no fucking excuse; it's the flagship product of a multi billion dollar company! And it wasnt even pretty to look at!
I'm not a Linux partisan because Linux is good. I'm a Linux partisan because Linux, at the very least, isnt getting actively worse over time. Its not losing features. Its not being dumbed down. You don't need to tolerate this week's added bullshit corporate bloat.
I wish to fuck I could still be using windows 7, but I can't. Windows is dead. So Linux it is.
Yeah, I guess. It's just too much work.
Maybe when I can finally afford to offload all the Plex and piracy tools and especially the media content from the PC to a server. I could also migrate all the services to docker but docker on Windows is a bit annoying to use.
Another factor is that I'm honestly pretty good with Windows and I can fix most issues easily so Windows just works.
Linux mostly just works out of the box, but fixing issues is more complicated for me on Linux and issues have been comparatively common on my Linux laptop.
I also like to do stuff on my PC which can be more complicated to Linux due to a lack of support. Gaming primarily but that is getting much better, I also like to try some professional software occasionally and those often don't work on Linux.
But all things considered I really like Linux, I just won't migrate my main PC any time soon.
I am mostly a Linux user (surprise, Lemmy!) but recently started a new job. Given the choice of a Windows laptop vs a Macbook Pro, I took the latter, despite my long-time distaste for Apple.
I do not, even in a work setting, even want to touch Windows 11 in any recurring capacity (yes, I did try it -- at my last role).
And if you are not the most tech savvy, read through the options to make sure it is what you need removed. Removing everything might break some things, because M$.
I can safely say that removing the telemetry is absolutely essential. Remove it from Firefox, and (ew) Chrome (ew, ew) alongside Windows telemetry because fuck that shit.
